Murali Purushothaman, J
1. The petitioner‘s daughter is the owner of an extent of 0.0154 Hectares of land comprised in Resurvey No.195/7-15 and 0.0170 Hectares of land
in Resurvey No.195/7-16 of Pozhuthana Village, Vythiri Taluk, Wayanad District, which was purchased by the petitioner as per Ext.P1 Sale Deed.
2. The petitioner constructed a residential building in the said property and submitted Ext.P4 application for regularisation of the said construction. The
said application was rejected by the 2nd respondent by Ext.P5 stating that the petitioner has not obtained the layout approval/ development permit
under Rule 31(xii) of the Kerala Panchayat Building Rules, 2019. Ext.P5 is impugned in this writ petition.
3. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner, the learned Standing Counsel appearing for respondents 2 & 3 and the learned Senior Government
Pleader appearing for the 1st respondent.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner has purchased only a small extent of land and is not bound to obtain a development
permit. The learned counsel relies on the decisions reported in Panjal Grama Panchayat v. Aneesh [2022 (2) KLT 653] and Nafeesa v.
Chavakkad Municipality [2018 (3) KLT 1] and submits that in respect of small extent of property, where a person intends to construct a residential
building, there is no necessity for obtaining a development permit.
4. A development permit, under the Kerala Panchayat Building Rules, 2019, is required only when there is development of land or subdivision of land
into plots. For the purpose of construction of residential building in a small plot of land, a development permit is not required. In Nafeesa [supra], this
Court held as follows:
“5...unless in the hands of the purchaser of the smaller portion of land, an activity which attracts the definition of ‘development of land’, as noticed
above, is involved, there would be no requirement for a person purchasing a plot of land for putting up a construction therein, to obtain a development permit
prior to applying for a building permit for the said construction.â€
Nafeesa [supra] was referred to and the dictum therein is reiterated by the Division Bench in Panjal [supra].
In the light of the decisions in Panjal and Nafeesa [supra], I set aside Ext.P5. There will be a direction to the 2nd respondent to consider Ext.P4
application of the petitioner for building permit, as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a
certified copy of this judgment, if the application is otherwise in order.
The writ petition is disposed of.
